December 13, 2024 |Charter Review Committee, City of Lynn, News

Lynn Charter Review Committee Provides Updates, Seeks Public Comment

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The City of Lynn established a Charter Review Committee earlier this year to assess the existing charter and advise the City Council on potential changes. The charter was written in 1850 and last reviewed about 40 years ago. The Committee will finalize its recommendations and submit them to the city council and the mayor in January 2025.

The Charter Review Committee have recently released updates and are seeking public comment over the next 21 days. The Committee will also be holding a hybrid public hearing on January 4 to solicit public comment on Zoom and at Lynn City Hall with more details to be released soon. The Committee will consider all feedback and comments prior to finalizing its draft recommendations to the City Council for review and approval.

Below is a summary of recommendations the committee has come up with, with more details available via the link below.

City Council

The current city council consisting of 11 members; 4 elected at-large and 7 elected by ward would continue to be elected for 2-year terms. The city council will continue to appoint a city clerk but would no longer appoint any other department heads. The city council would retain the powers of municipal legislative bodies in Massachusetts.

Mayor

The mayor’s authority over appointments of department heads would be strengthened. Department heads would no longer serve for indefinite terms. The mayor would continue to be the chief executive officer of the city, responsible for its day-to-day operations. The mayor would continue to serve a 4-year term.

School Committee

The School Committee would remain a 7-member body elected at-large. The mayor would continue to serve as the chair. Vacancies would be filled by the remaining members of the school committee by selecting the defeated candidate who received at least 20% of the ballots cast for that office, if there is no defeated candidate, the seat would be filled by a joint convention of the city council and the school committee.

Organization of City Operations

The mayor would continue to be authorized to submit reorganization plans of departments and boards and commissions to the city council. The city council could approve or reject the mayor’s proposals but would not have the authority to amend them. The city would no longer be required to seek state approval for the reorganization of the city government. The mayor would be required to submit an entire organizational plan to the city council within 180 days from the approval of the charter.

City Finances

The mayor would be required to call a joint meeting of the city council and the school committee to review the fiscal condition of the City before the start of each year’s budget process. The budget process would become more streamlined. The mayor would be required to prepare a 5-year capital improvement program.

Elections

Dates and times of elections would remain the same. The inaugural date will be changed to the first business day in January to avoid a conflict with a holiday.

Prohibitions

The mayor and the members of the city council or school committee would not be allowed to hold any other paid position with the city until 1 year after their service ends rather than the current 2-year wait period.

Charter and Ordinance Review

The city would continue to be required to review its charter every ten years and codify its ordinances every five years.

The above information was submitted to us by the City of Lynn.